Installer Password Length causes setup crash

[JeffryPaul]

I've discovered a limitation of the installer password feature. (The password you enter to run setup).
My setups have been built with both Installaware 11 and Installaware NX. Setups are digitally signed, but not encrypted.

Windows XP SP3 AND Windows 8 Pro:
* Running setup without parameters: entering either the 11 or 12 character password works fine.
* Running setup.exe /k=password works for an 11 character password, all lower case.
* Running setup.exe /k=password crashes for a 12 character password (first character is upper case, if that makes any difference)
* Running setup.exe /k="password" works for either 11 or 12 character password on WinXP, but crashes in Windows 8.

Windows 7:
* works interactively and non-interactively with either the 11 or 12 character password.

I saw another thread about setup passwords not being limited in length, but that might be limited to entering passwords interactively.

Help!

[FrancescoT]

Dear JeffryPaul,

just a question;

If you do not use Setup signature, what's happen?

Let me know.

Regards

[JeffryPaul]

Digitally signed or unsigned, the setups (built with IA NX) crash when the setup password length is greater than 11 characters.
This error can be replicated in both Windows XP and Windows 8 Pro.

setup.exe /k=<password>
* password that works (11 char): ABC123abc12
* password that crashes setup (12 char): ABC123abc123

[JeffryPaul]

I recompiled the same setup 100 times, with differing length passwords. I used the /p=<password> to encrypt the setup.
I then ran setup /k=<password> for each of those 100 setups to see which ones failed. Here are my findings:

Setups compilied with the following password lengths failed:
8, 12, 16, 24, 28, 32, 44, 48, 52
56 - told me the password was incorrect.
60, 76, 80, 84, 88
92 - told me the password was incorrect
100

Hope this helps you determine the problem.

[FrancescoT]

Dear JeffryPaul,

We have reproduced the issues and I can confirm you that an update will be available soon for InstallAware NX.

Regards

[JeffryPaul]

I recompiled the setups 100 more times (with 1 to 100 length encryption passwords) and tested them.

Using NX 14.02, the problem is resolved.

[FrancescoT]